Hypnotherapy, BlogHypfocus Therapies

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What is High functioning Anxiety?

High Functioning Anxiety seems to have become something of a buzz phrase of late. It’s something I’m becoming increasingly aware of, I personally define it as “ frenetic activity driven by the fear of facing whatever secrets unconscious may reveal during periods of stillness”. This activity involves driving the person so hard that they reach breaking point. Often that fear may be that the unconscious confirms that “they're not enough”. This fear of course is unfounded; the trick is it needs to be confronted in order to dissipate.

​What are the typical signs of High functioning Anxiety?

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You’re often described as someone that goes above and beyond in accomplishing things. You set about a task with tunnel vision and a set view of how it “should be” done, no variation is acceptable. Anything less than perfect is a failure that can’t be tolerated. You present yourself and your home to the public as perfect and can’t handle anyone seeing anything out of place. Any failure to maintain the perfect façade is obsessed over.

One or more physical habit will often be present e.g. Biting nails, chewing the lip, picking at skin blemishes, cracking the knuckles. These are self-soothing behaviours attempting to act as a pressure valve to reduce the build-up of anxiety.

You take on far too much, multi-tasking and running yourself into the ground, always “having” to be busy.

You conceal your emotions, always acting as if everything is ok even when the opposite is true. You feel it’s essential to put on a brave face at all times, bottling up your feelings like carbonated water when shaken.

Thanks to concealing your true feelings this you’ve been labelled “strong” and people tend to pile more and more on you as if you are somehow super human and impervious to emotional pain. Eventually the strain becomes too much.

You feel you have to show up to everything, be all things to all people and have the answers to everything. This feeds the fear of never being enough.

Often you misstate your anxiety for energy and drive, to come’s as a shock when you suddenly realise that you are anxious. This wake-up call often comes in the form of a panic attack.

You don’t’ get enough sleep, often staying up late trying to pack as much into every day as you can push yourself to do. Your mind races. It’s exhausting and you feel brittle.

People describe you as an ‘A’ type high achiever, they think you’re moving towards goals when in actual fact your running away from the fear of not living up to something. You’re too terrified of coming up short to stop, you have to keep trying to please others, do everything and then do more! You force yourself to keep going terrified of being found wanting by anyone, the idea of being a disappointment is too much to bear.

You like to identify yourself as busy, not being able to keep still, you make it a quirk of yoru personality, but you are running on fumes. Desperately trying to avoid sitting down and just feeling and being, because the idea of what might come up is too terrifying to contemplate.

If you think you may have High Functioning Anxiety and would like help in overcoming it please give me a call on0435 923 817 or use this Contact From. More information on Anxiety may be found here, and in the blog section here.
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If you have any thoughts or comments you’d like to share about your experience of High Functioning Anxiety please share them in the comments section below, I’d love to hear from you.
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Author

Melbourne Hypnotherapist Georgina Mitchell was born in Ireland, moving to Australia in 1989. Georgina Specialises in helping people with Anxiety Disorders and is an active member of the Melbourne Hypnotherapy Community. In Melbourne Hypnosis is being accepted as effective tool for anyone wanting to achieve a positive change in Mood, Behaviour and Habit.

Hypnotherapy Melbourne Reviews for Hypfocus

"Georgina has helped me overcome depression and anxiety so that I was able to finish my course and get a job. I've started going to the gym again which I had previously given up because I felt too self-conscious and couldn't stand being hot. It's really changed my life for the better, I can manage my thoughts and don't have the overwhelming feelings that used to see me spiraling downwards anymore. I've tried other therapies and this was my last resort, I can't recommend her highly enough"

Disclaimer: As with all therapies Hypnotherapy results vary from person to person. This website is not intended as a substitute for medical advice or treatment. The reader should consult their GP for medical advice and for any symptoms that may require medical intervention. The content on this website is for the information of people considering Hypnotherapy at Hypfocus.

Hypfocus Practitioner Georgina Mitchell Is A Member of the HCA

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